


Jack

by italianice15



Series: Bucky x Tony [1]
Category: Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bucky is frustrated, Language, M/M, Pets, strange pets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 05:53:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14635437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/italianice15/pseuds/italianice15
Summary: “Don’t you dare think about bringing that thing home.”





	Jack

“Don’t you dare think about bringing that thing home.”

Tony looked at Bucky with those big, round brown eyes, the mask of the Iron Man suit pulled back. He held the creature close to the armor, wrapping his arms tighter around it, but careful not to crush the watermelon-sized thing.

“But he’s all alone, and cold, and scared.”

Alone, cold, and scared. Those were the words Tony used to describe Bucky when he’d first come back from Wakanda. So Tony was trying to pathos his way into having a mutant pet? Well played.

“No. Send it to a lab or the zoo. You can’t bring it home.”

“Why not?”

Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a few muffled curses. He felt like a mother telling her toddler that he couldn’t have a puppy.

“You don’t know what it is, where it came from, or how to take care of it. That thing is covered in slime and we both know you hate cleaning up after yourself. I’m gonna be the one that ends up taking care of it and I don’t want it in our apartment.”, Bucky protested, his jaw and shoulders squared.

Tony had only begun his little game of ‘beg until you get it’. He knew that Bucky really didn’t want whatever the hell this was, so that made Tony want it twice as bad. So, skipping five steps ahead of his usual plan, he stuck out his bottom lip a bit and quivered his chin.

“Tony, don’t-“

“It’s just that you’re gone a lot and I’m always alone and I’m not allowed in the lab as much anymore and I don’t really have any friends except Rhodey and Bruce and I hate bothering them and I think it’d be nice to have a-“

“Son of a bitch! Fine! Take it home. I don’t care. Take it, but I’m not lifting one finger to feed it, bathe it, walk it, or take care of it in any form or fashion whatsoever. Hear me?”, Bucky relented, throwing his hands up in surrender. He marched toward the ship while Tony babbled sweetly to the thing clutching to him for dear life.

—

“What the fuck is that?”, Sam asked, cowering behind Steve.

“And where did you find it?”, Steve added, crawling slowly onto the armchair so as not to disturb the sleeping creature.

“Jackson-Bailor Laboratory. That mission we had in Louisiana. It’s a clusterfuck of a million different animals.”, Bucky glances down at it sleeping in it’s dog bed.

“HE is not an ‘it’ and HE is perfect just the way he is.”, Tony said as he entered the apartment with Bruce in tow.

They’d gotten home hours prior and Tony already had all sorts of pet things delivered to the tower. The creature had toys, a food and water dish, a bed, and some sweaters, as he was cold to the touch.

Bruce, being a biologist, was immediately fascinated by what Tony had told him about this thing he’d found.

“Can we take him down to the lab?”

The thing rolled over, grumbling in his own way as he did so.

“C’mon, Jack.”, Tony coaxed, picking him up and swaying back and forth as Jack curled into his chest.

“You named it already?”, Bucky glowered at Jack.

“Yes, I named HIM Jack, after the lab he was found in.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, looking back at the tv. Bruce and Tony left shortly after Tony gathered up all the things he thought Jack would need to feel comfortable.

“He probably doesn’t like labs much. Isn’t that right, baby boy?”, Tony cooed.

Sam and Steve relaxed after they left, settling onto the couch on each side of Bucky.

“I think your boyfriend has a new boyfriend.”, Sam joked.

“It’s not sleeping in the bed with us.”, Bucky professed flatly.

“Oh, it’s gonna sleep in the bed with you. Just watch.”, Steve laughed.

—

“No! No, no, no. Abso-fucking-lutely not.”, Bucky swore as he pulled back the covers that night, revealing Jack curled up in a ball beneath the blankets.

“He gets cold, Bucky. I don’t want him to freeze.”, Tony said from the bathroom.

“Then get an electric blanket or something.”

“No, he’s my baby.”

Bucky cursed for the thousandth time within the hour and gave up. Clearly, Tony could not see reason when it came to the little monstrosity. He laid down next it, as it had taken up some of his side of the bed, and pushed it away with his right arm. Apparently, that was the cue to wrap itself around Bucky’s arm. 

It felt strange. Smooth, but like Velcro and really cold, almost to the point of concern.

“Bruce said he’s cold blooded and mostly reptilian, maybe some fish and amphibian in there, too.”, Tony emerged from the bathroom. Bucky, still holding his arm out onto Tony’s side of the bed, hummed in acknowledgement that the genius had spoken moreso than listening to what he’d said.

Jack’s head was vaguely shaped like a shark’s, his body was wide, and his legs were short and overall kind of squatty. Jack’s tail was long like a crocodile’s, but smooth. He had some dorsal fin type things along his back that ran down to the base of his tail. He had gills on the side of his head, but also had nostrils at the front of his snout. Jack had scars, too. All up and down his little body. Jack was a curious creature indeed.

“Isn’t he cute?”, Tony said as he laid next to Bucky, prying Jack from Bucky’s arm and laying him on his own chest.

“Adorable.”, Bucky rolled over, his back toward Tony and the thing.

—

“An aquarium?”, Bucky watched as Tony’s bots built Jack a new habitat.

“A lagoon, actually. His little pool is too small now.”

Tony decided to dedicate an entire vacant floor of the tower to Jack’s new lagoon. It would have sandy shores, sunning rocks, heating lamps, and a giant pool so he could swim to his heart’s content.

“I’d say he grew out of that a while ago.”, Bucky kept watching the bots lay out the sand, place the rocks, and fill the pool.

In the two months that Jack had been at the tower, he’d grown three feet longer, but Bucky hadn’t grown any warmer. He still despised Jack with a passion, blaming him for being the sole reason that he and Tony hadn’t had sex in weeks.

Tony left Bucky to redirect some of the bots. Bucky went to the elevator, only to get an alert from JARVIS.

“Sergeant Barnes, it appears Jack as gotten out of the penthouse.”

“Again? Can you find him?”

“He has taken his collar off.”

It was a wonder that Tony hadn’t microchipped the damn thing by now. 

“I’m on it.”, Bucky stormed from the elevator once it reached the common floor. Thankfully, Clint’s screams and Lucky’s, Clint’s laborador, barking led him to Jack in no time.

“Come here, you menace.”, Bucky grumbled. 

Bucky directed Jack around with the toe of his shoe like a cattle prod. Jack picked up his stuffed turtle, his only pride and joy besides Tony, and shuffled away from the over-excited dog.

“Sergeant Barnes, Jack’s aquarium is ready.”, JARVIS reported.

“Thanks, J. I’ll take him straight down there.”, Bucky corralled the almost five foot animal into the elevator.

—

With nostrils and gill flaps flared, Jack hesitantly stepped out of the elevator and onto the warm sand. He saw Tony by the pool and quickened his pace a little, but was still cautious about his new surroundings. Bruce and Natasha, Jack’s favorite person besides Tony, were there too.

Bucky breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Jack slide into the pool and start swimming around. Finally, he’d have his apartment and his boyfriend back.

“Look at him go.”, Natasha exclaimed proudly. By his own volition, Jack began to rearrange the rocks at the bottom of the pool, something Bruce said was normal for reptiles to do.

“See, Bucky, I told you Jack was normal.”, Tony defiantly stuck out his tongue as Bucky approached.

“Sure, doll.”, Bucky kissed his cheek.

—

With Jack gone, Tony became fidgety and restless. Bucky thought he’d finally be free of Tony worrying about Jack all the time, but it was ten times worse than before.

“He’s never been alone before. I hope he doesn’t think I hate him. He has his turtle, right? What if his lamps go out? What if the water is too cold?”, Tony paced around the kitchen.

“He’s fine. He made it two months around an abandoned lab all by himself when he was a baby, I’m sure he can stand to be in a luxury lagoon tailor-made for him without freaking out.”, Bucky rolled his eyes. God, that damn thing was ruining his life. 

Tony settled down after a while, watching tv with Bucky. There was a football game coming on, Patriots vs Panthers, that Bucky seemed pretty jazzed about. Sam, Steve, and Clint were coming later, so Tony had to explain himself now.

“I’m always worried about Jack because he reminds me of you.”, Tony blurted. With a mouthful of chips, Bucky turned his head and made a noise of confusion.

“He was poked and prodded and tested on. Then he was abandoned. He was scared and alone. He’s got scars and he has nightmares. I know you don’t think he does, but it’s true. He needs his turtle or he can’t function.”, Tony listed.

It was true. All of it. Though Jack seemed too young at the time, or too unintelligent to internalize his situation, it was apparent that whatever had happened to him before Tony and Bucky found him was cruel and unusual. He was terrified of dark places, anything remotely resembling a cage, closed doors, loud noises from the tv, and yelling.

“I didn’t think about it like that.”, Bucky said after he’d swallowed his food.

Sam, Steve, and Clint came into the living room making all kinds of noise. Tony got up and left, not much of a fan of football, and went to occupy his time elsewhere.

—

Jack, now four years old, clocked in at a whopping two thousand pounds, stretching to an impressive eleven feet long. His skin was mottled with grays, greens, and browns, with some vibrant orange spots peppered about.

“How’s my baby?”, Tony kissed his smooth head. Jack responded with something between a growl and a purr. Bucky watched fondly, tossing a few whole salmons to Jack, who caught them with no trouble. 

Tony sat on the sandy shore in Jack’s lagoon. Bucky made himself at home on one of the stones bedside the water. Jack laid his heavy head on Tony’s lap, his beady, black eyes closing. With a huff, Jack fell asleep. Not long after, Tony laid back and followed suit.


End file.
